The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-09-01
4 GOOD SCHOOL TRADE.
The Kind Of Business Done BY Canoy
and Cigarette shops in New York.


and Cigarette shops in New York.
..C,.Sr,y cfz--. s-a-lo-erT and r1-i9n sore;
y dong god scboo! trade - EasT - 81
HCAEDY STORE. opposite big pubic school;
frsf cIsss tralte Ia coztsctlcce-y, Cigarettes
and statlons.y. Apply az - "es- - e.
A Young man with few hundred dollars
10 invest answered several Of these advertise
rneuts. In each case be found small dingy
shop with great heaps Of painted candy, pack
ages Of cheap cigarettes and plentiful supplies
Of blood and thunder literature On the
shelves. a few dusty school books completed
the stock In each case, too, the little shop
was near a public school Some nestled close
ID 20 the big buildings. Oilers were across
the str e. or on corners diagonally situated.
All were les than q stones throw distant.
@Cur trade comes almost exclusively from
the school children said the proprietor Of
one grimy little shop. They are lively Gus
toners before and after school and at recess.
This is tue dull season, because vacation has
Just begun. Trade will pick up again in Sep
teEnber. Then it Is sure and steady until
spring Last year l made net profit OF no
less than 81 200"
THE demand for school books must be
pretty heavy"
aOh, no; we sell very few school books"
What do you sell that makes your trade
50 proHtableT
Candy and cigarettes, principally. You'd
Be surprised at the quantity Of candy those
youngsters devour. The little boys and girls
rush in here with their pennies and buy a
stick Of painted candy whenever they get the
chance. All the larger boys buy cigarette
or two every day It's only penny business,
Of course, with penny profits. But when you
take care Of the pennies the dollars'l take
care Of themselves, you know. Why, | made
s70O clear profit last year On candies alone.
For, 10 tell the truth, the sweet stuff Is the
very cheapest sort. But the children like It
Just as we'll wouldn't sell out at all If it
were not that am going TO leave town be-
fore fall when trade will be resumed at it,
liveliest.7
Similar statements were made by all the
other candy store advertisers, and strong in.
ducements 10 purchase were held cut TO the
young man. Being Of nice moral sense,
however, b. decided not 70 invest in bust
ness which seemed to him like corrupting the
rising generation by supplying them with
cheap and perhaps poisonous painted candy
and cigarettes. This idea impressed him
50 strongly that he asked a school prin.
cipal about IT,
@You are right" said he. "This candy
shop business is one Of the most pernicioui
features Of school life. We call the shopa
candy bells. The red, green, blue and vel.
low coloring matter annually used in it,
manufacture would paint the town in alter.
nate stripes from the Battery 10 Harlem
bridge. Five cents worth Of the stuff would
lay professional athlete on his back for a
week, but forty-pOund schoolboy can con.
sumo five cents worth every day for six
months and he sixty-pound schoolboy at tina
end Of that period. The ways Of the in.
fantile stomach are inscrutable, and even the
candy shop cannot affect it. Still, these
candy bells are literally training schools fof
future generations Of dyspeptics and men
with handmade sets Of teeth. But we are
powerless 10 prevent it."-New York Sun.